Sunday in Tennessee - Dogs on Bikes Wearing Helmets and Goggles!

Sunday is the Ron Memorial Ride (Ron was killed in a motorcycle accident a few weeks prior). My first staged ride. We get to SMHD (https://www.smh-d.com/) early (10:30 am, even though the ride doesn’t start until 1:30 pm) so that Al can help. The guy with over 300K miles on his bike (2015!) – I think his name is Dan – is there. His bike is covered in stickers. He’s from Indiana. A farriers (farriers “are highly skilled equine hoof-care professionals. They not only shape and fit horseshoes, but they also clean, trim, and shape horse hooves. Farriers can work with a variety of breeds in different environments, from riding stables to farms to racetracks.” Per Wiki). Since he was just hanging around, we got to talking. He’s from southwest Indiana, almost in Kentucky. His bike before this had over 280K miles on it before he got hit. There isn’t a time table for when he starts putting the stickers on his bike – with my old helmet, I started putting stickers on it when I got a paint scratch on it and used stickers to cover it up. He also told me all about his old girlfriend, who had to leave him or her family was going to cut her off from money. He was an interesting guy.

When we grabbed breakfast sandwiches at our Shell station, Tony bought me a scratch off lottery card (I had a dream that we won the lottery). I bought one that was a crossword puzzle (but not really). We didn’t win – I thought we did until I read the instructions.

I was a little worried about not liking a big ride like this. But, it was actually kind of cool and we didn’t get jammed up or have any problems until towards the end because 411/321 just couldn’t be blocked off for us. We had a police escort out of SMHD, then took a right on Morganton Road, eventually making it over to 72 to the Punkin Center before taking 129 back to SMHD. About an hour and 15-minute ride, with about 100+ bikes. Wonder if we would have done the Foothills Parkway if it hadn’t been closed to Maryville. I don’t have pictures because I didn’t think it would be worthy of any. Mistake because it was cool to see all of the bikes ahead of us. And the route wasn’t highways like I thought it may be.